Tag Archives: building

Mare Island Power Plant, Dusk

Mare Island Power Plant, Dusk

Mare Island Power Plant, Dusk. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The power plant and surrounding buildings at the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard, photographed at dusk as fog rolls in overhead.

While I mainly go to the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard to do night photography, I like to start before dark when the evening light is still present. I have photographed this old power plant, with its iconic and widely visible smoke stack, in the past – both at night and at dusk. This building faces to the west and is open to the late light.

Previously when I have photographed it in these circumstances I’ve tried to include more of the surroundings – the neighboring buildings, the road in front, the railroad tracks that pass by and head into the distance. This time I swapped out the wide lens for a telephoto and decided to work for images that are more tightly cropped and which focus more on details of the building.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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keywords: minsy, mare, island, naval, ship, yard, decommissioned, abandoned, smoke, stack, industrial, government, historic, building, brick, wall, window, antenna, pipe, reflection, ladder, fog, evening, dusk, light, corrugated, metal, cement, concrete, structure, vallejo, california, usa, tree, street, light, stock

Facade, Building 101

Facade, Building 101

Facade, Building 101. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The front wall of building 101 at the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California – photographed at night under variety artificial ambient artificial lighting.

Yes, another Mare Island photo… and another photography of Building 101! In this photograph I simply wanted to capture the garish lighting and the wild weathered and dilapidated detail of the front of this building: angular shadows, peeling paint on window frames, obscured and graffiti-scarred glass, the texture of the corrugated metal walls, and the odd bits of intruding fence and stacked barricades.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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keywords: night, nocturnal, photography, artificial, sodium, vapor, tungsten, illumination, light, lamp, shadow, wall, front, facade, building, 101, architecture, historic, window, door, conduit, grafitti, fence, metal, corrugated, yellow, brown, dilapidated, run, down, frame, mare, island, naval, ship, yard, california, usa, structure, urban, industrial, decay, stock, minsy

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night

Nimitz Street, High Fog, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Nimitz Street with high fog and moonlight and ambient artificial lighting, Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California.

This is probably one of the iconic scenes for night photographers at the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. This shot looks up Nimitz Street near the waterfront and across railway tracks toward some of the core old buildings and beyond to the smoke stack of the power plant. It includes some of the huge overhead structures that were, as I understand it, used to move large ship components such as engines from the shops in which they were assembled to the ships under construction.

As is typical at night at Mare Island, the photograph includes a wild range of types of lighting. The 3/4 moon is partially responsible for illuminating the high fog, but the fog also picks up a warmer glow from a variety of types of lighting on the ground at Mare Island and beyond. The buildings are lit by some of the same light sources, but also by local security lightning and some street lights including tungsten, sodium vapor and perhaps even florescent sources. (When composing such shots I have to be very careful to place the camera in a position where direct light from these many sources is blocked by buildings, towers, and so forth.)

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: minsy, mare, island, naval, shipyard, historic, abandoned, decommisioned, nimitz, street, avenue, tracks, scaffolding, structure, tower, industrial, brick, building, road, window, door, quonset, hut, truss, wall, room, smoke, stack, chimney, power, plant, fog, high, star, trails, glow, night, photography, nocturnal, reflection, dark, urban, stock

Pipes at Base of Ship Yard Tower, Night

Pipes at Base of Ship Yard Tower, Night

Pipes at Base of Ship Yard Tower, Night. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. August 30, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photography of a convoluted assemblage of pipes at the base of a ship yard construction tower at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

This is a closer view of some of the old and somewhat mysterious industrial equipment and structures at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California – again shot at night during my visit to this historic location on August 30. This mass of pipes and valves and wires and what not is at the base of one of the tall structures that cross the roadways around the center of the shipyard along Nimitz Avenue.

When I made this exposure I was not sure whether it would end up as black and white or color, but when I saw the intensely yellow color of the light on the painted surfaces of the metal it was, well, too much – so I have gone with the black and white rendition.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
Twitter: http://twitter.com/gdanmitchell
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keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, minsy, vallejo, california, night, nocturnal, photography, historic, night, nocturnal, photography, black and white, monochrome, pipe, valve, wire, hose, bolt, nut, steel, tower, support, cement, concrete, block, metal, corrugated, building, wall, roof, vent, truss, base, tower, mechanical, industrial, historic, old, usa, shadwo, door, stock